1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the general field of books and written publications. In particular, the invention provides a novel helicoidal structure for assembling and viewing printed material, which is especially suitable for children's educational books.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Everyone is familiar with the normal format and structure of books, magazines and other printed material available to convey information to the public. For centuries, books have generally consisted of a stack of leaves combined at a common edge to form a spine and bound by a protective cover. The material is viewed by sequentially turning leaves to expose pages from one end of the stack to the other. Within this general framework, many variations have been developed for specific purposes, but the basic feature of multiple pages attached to a common spine has remained intact.
One of the characteristics of the conventional book format is the limited space available for displaying large amounts of pictorial information, which at times may be problem for a clear presentation of the material. Since it can only be shown either within the limits of the same book spread or sequentially on different pages, the obvious result is that only a small portion of the material can be viewed at the same time. Thus, for example, it is difficult to properly present a dioramic scene within the constraints of a standard book or magazine. For that reason, publishers often resort to centerfolds to increase the space available in a single display.
This invention deals with a new concept in book format and structure that is particularly suitable for large displays and visual continuity in story telling and that, therefore, is very useful for educational children's books. The idea involves a helicoidal book structure wherein each page unfolds next to the preceding page in a continuous open spiral. A search of the prior art has revealed some related patents, specifically U.S. Pat. No. 2,883,195 to Rogers et al. (1959), U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,328 to Lohnes (1956), U.S. Pat. No. 3,206,887 to Eyler et al. (1965) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,100 to Dugan (1978). None of these patents describes a spiral structure similar to the book format disclosed herein.